Boyfriend Rapist of Anaheim High School Student Hates California's One Strike Law

A month after Orange County Jorge Luna turned 18 in 2007, his girlfriend ended their two-year romantic relationship and he reacted angrily by promising that if she "wasn't his, then she was no one's."

The following day Luna confronted the Anaheim High School student when she arrived on campus, pulled her away to a nearby apartment complex where he repeatedly struck her, threatened to kill her and choked her to the verge of unconsciousness.

Fearing she was about to be thrown off a balcony, the terrorized girl apologized and promised that she would reconsider breaking up.

Luna took the girl to a stairwell, raped her and then let her return to school, where she quickly reported the sex crime to the authorities, according to court records.

Prosecutors inside the Orange County District Attorney's office charged him with kidnapping, rape and assault with a deadly weapon and in December 2010 a jury convicted him on all counts. Using California's "One Strike" law, Superior Court Judge M. Marc Kelly ordered prison as punishment.

But Luna appealed, claiming that he was being punished as if he committed the kidnapping in order to rape his victim when he says his crime was less nasty--the kidnapping was a precursor to murder; the rape was merely an afterthought.

He also complained that Kelly had been too harsh by giving a future parole board complete control over the timing of his release, if ever, from prison.

Luna: Was it worth it?

Luna: Was it worth it?

A

California Court of Appeal

based in Santa Ana considered the case and today issued its ruling: Too bad and so what?

In a 13-page opinion written by Justice Richard D. Fybel, the court declared that the state legislature wrote California's "One Strike" law precisely to impose tougher punishment for violent sex criminals like Luna.

Upshot: Luna, now 23, will remained locked inside Calipatria State Prison and serving his 15 years to life punishment.

R. Scott Moxley’s award-winning investigative journalism has touched nerves for two decades. An angry congressman threatened to break Moxley’s knee caps. A dirty sheriff promised his critical reporting was irrelevant and then landed in prison. Corporate crooks won’t take his calls. Murderous gangsters mad-dogged him in court. The U.S. House of Representatives debated his work. Pusillanimous cops have left hostile messages using fake names. Federal prosecutors credited his stories for the arrest of a doctor who sold fake medicine to dying patients. And a frantic state legislator literally caught sleeping with lobbyists sprinted down state capital hallways to evade his questions in Sacramento.